ABSTRACT
The context of this discussion on interviewing is primarily a research project on “School Management in Contexts of Stringency,” directed by Clive Harber and myself. The project arose from teaching educational management to teachers and managers from developing countries and from the realization that much Western management literature was of dubious relevance in situations of extreme shortage. We knew from our experience of various schools in Africa and Southeast Asia that when there are minimal resources, when teachers have not been paid, when children are taking turns with desks, chairs and classrooms, and when complex patterns of family obligation and political deference constrain administrative behavior, then “rational” models of Total Quality Management appear inapplicable. Daily financial and cultural survival may demand very different management models.
